More Food Waste Going To AD In England

The amount of food being sent for anaerobic digestion (AD) in England has increased in that past year.

This is according to the latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with Materials Recycling World revealing that 386,000 tonnes of food was sent to AD in England last year, an increase of 8.7 per cent over the previous 12 months.

However, despite improvement in this area, England is now at the bottom of the home nation recycling league, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all doing a better job of recycling more of their waste streams.

England’s overall recycling rate is 45.2 per cent, compared to Scotland with 45.6 per cent, Northern Ireland with 48.1 per cent and Wales with 62.7 per cent.

The BBC recently reported that councils could be forced to provide separate food waste recycling in England in the future, with just 35 per cent of households currently using food waste recycling.

This is in comparison to 56 per cent of homes in Scotland and 100 per cent of homes in Wales.

Any food waste that goes into landfill creates methane, which the news provider notes is a “powerful greenhouse gas”.

However, when food waste is collected separately, it can be sent to an AD plant, where it is broken down into carbon dioxide, methane and sludge. The gas can be used to generate energy or power a vehicle, while the sludge is used as a fertiliser for soil.